The Chronicle, the College of Lake County's student newspaper, recently won 16 awards in statewide competition among community college newspapers, including four first place awards and the top prize in "general excellence."

The awards, which were presented April 5 at the Illinois Community College Journalism Association's spring conference at Moraine Valley Community College in Palos Hills, put CLC's student newspaper in competition with Division I student publications produced at the state's biggest community colleges.

In addition to the overall first place in "general excellence" for a student newspaper, three other first place awards went to Chronicle staff members for journalistic work produced in 2013.

Editor-in-chief Phil Brahm won first place in staff editorials, third place in column writing and second place for a news photo. Layout editor Jimmy Pierson won first place in graphics as well as a second place in advertising design. The Chronicle layout and design staff also earned third place awards in overall publication layout and in front-page design. Besides Pierson, the layout editors in 2013 included George Tillis.

The Chronicle also won first place for its article headlines, with Tillis and sports columnist Sam Greenberg credited with most of the winning submissions. Three additional second places in reporting and writing went to Chronicle staff members. Managing editor Miles Hoehne's won second place in staff editorials, which gave the publication the top two Division I awards in the state in that category.

News Editor Erin Kelly won second place in the news story category and Reporter Megan Lauer won second in arts features. An additional award in feature-writing competition went to former editor/managing editor Brett Starkopf. Sports Editor Trey Martin won third place in sports-news competition and an honorable mention in sports-feature competition. An addition honorable mention in sports journalism went to Matt Bell in sports-photo competition.

In the last seven years, The Chronicle has won 77 awards, including 20 first places, in the statewide contest. The judges for the ICCJA competition are professional journalists and journalism educators.